The Legacy Initiative
by LegacyInitiative
Summary: In a world set a generation after the quest of the 7, a large evil has overtaken control of the immortal world. Legacies of the gods Blake Courtenay, Wyatt Ward, and their friends and family work hard to combat this evil. Apart they are unique individuals each with powerful abilities. Together, they are a team of the most powerful beings of their age. This is the Legacy Initiative.
1. Chapter 1: The Rescue

_**Disclaimer:** _Set in the universe created by Rick Riordan. All characters used are either of his creation, or are OCs created by myself, my partner, or other writers by whom we have gained permission for use.

_**Author's**_** Note:** This is the first part in a collaboration story written by myself and a friend. Both writers with publish through this account in accordance to when they finish certain chapters. This first chapter is written from the first person perspective of Blake Courtenay.

**CHAPTER ONE**

**The Rescue**

There was static. I cursed and pulled the communicator from my ear, throwing in on the ground. "Are you serious? Can someone please stop making these things so cheap? I mean, we could die because we can't hear each other." I said. The other marksmen standing next to me began to giggle and I stuck my tongue out at them.

"Stop overreacting, Blake, this is serious, you know how dangerous Greek fire is. You aren't a child anymore." Howard's voice came in loud and clear through the speaker system built into the room. I made a rude gesture to the direction Howard's voice was coming from and sighed. Howard used to be so fun, when we were kids, after our parents died, he took care of us all, even though he was only a year older than Wyatt and I, he was always so much more mature. With that maturity and his incredible fighting ability, it was no surprise that he was appointed leader of the Team, by Lupa, Chiron and the Legacy Initiative staff, but that was also when his personality changed. He became more serious, almost strict, he was like a second Lupa, but believe it or not he joked around less. His new personality didn't change his ability to lead us, however. When we were out on the field, Howard knew exactly what to do, heck, I was supposed to be the Tactical Coordinator during battle, the one who suggested the appropriate battle plan, but half the time we did a mission together, it was Howard who chose the formations. I didn't mind though, it wasn't worth arguing about, Howard was the leader, and I didn't want to make a big deal about it.

Another voice came from the speakers, this time it was Ralph, our weapons maker. He was a son of Hephaestus, and one of the last anti-supremacy demigods left from our parent's generation. He had no children, but before my dad died, he asked Ralph and about half a dozen other demigods to help Chiron and Lupa raise and train us. "Okay guys, you all will be testing out different versions of our Greek fire arrows. Blake and Lily, you have the most powerful ones, they're designed for battle against large and heavily armored enemies, like drakons, dragons, a Hydra and Hyperborean giants. They pack a punch, which is why you guys are standing so far away. Your target today, is that very life like model of Ladon the dragon." We all couldn't help but crack up at Ralph's sarcasm. The dragon model was made from a bunch of old machine parts, and the armor was painted bright pink, no doubt Cindy's doing. I was sure Howard would have a 'talk' with her about that, but no matter how much he talked to our trainees, they never listened.  
"Okay, okay, that's enough joking around, just shoot our beautiful she-Ladon before that vein on Howard's forehead pops." Ralph said, a bit more seriously this time. "You're up, Blake and Lily, and remember, the armor is basically as strong as the ones the Supremacist monsters use, so aim for the same weak spots." We nodded and notched an arrow onto each of our bows, then glanced at each other.

"I got the right shoulder." Lily claimed, and I nodded again, I decided to go for the weak spot right under the neck. I raised the bow and arrow, aiming at the target and pulled back on the bow string. I took one deep breath and released the arrow, sending it sailing towards she-Ladon. Two soft thumps came from the scrap dragon's body, which were followed by two large explosions. Green fire burst from the arrows, engulfing the model dragon's body. The model quickly began to disintegrate, in typical Greek fire fashion. For those of you who don't know, Greek fire isn't like ordinary fire, for one, it's green and two, it's not any hotter than ordinary fire, but it is magic, which makes it a whole lot more dangerous. It doesn't really melt stuff, even ice doesn't melt, Greek fire literally disintegrates whatever it's been set on. Scary I know, but we have to work with things like this if we're going to stand a chance against The Supremacist. Anyway, we watched as she-Ladon took her last breath and crumbled to ash before Howard came back on the speakers. "Good job you two, you can go now, the others will handle the rest of the testing." He said, opening the automatic door, allowing us to leave. Lily walked a bit in front of me, and as we got out the door, she slowed down to let me catch up. "You know, you should give Howard a break, he's really stressed out being leader and all. Is it so hard to just follow orders without making a smart remark?"

I rolled my eyes. Lily always defended Howard. She had the world's most obvious crush on the guy, but it was a bit one sided, since Howard never seemed to notice. Really takes after his grandmother, he does. And it kinda sets up a terrible love triangle since Trent Epperson seems to have feelings for her, but poor Lily is too busy chasing after Howard to notice, but that's besides the fact. Point is, Lily always jumps at the chance to defend Howard, but that doesn't mean I can't argue.

"Oh come on Lily, I know he's great and all, you don't need to justify every wrong thing about him. Howard is a tightly wound stick in the mud, who doesn't know how to have fun anymore. You should move on, there are other fish in the sea." I told her, though my comment seemed to have been taken the wrong way.

"What are you talking about, haven't you and Kat been going out for like a month? I'm definitely not going there Blake, take your mind out the gutter." Lily retorted abrasively.  
I groaned dramatically. "Not me, Lil, I'm talking about Trent or one of the half a dozen other guys around here who think you're hot?" I said, earning myself a punch in the shoulder, which was a good sign. Lily punched my shoulder pretty often, so much that I think my left arm is pretty much bruise-proof.

"I dunno Blake, all those guys, they're nice and all, but they're just not right." Her voice was kinda sad, but she spoke with a smile. "I've tried to like other guys, especially Trent, but they're just not right, they're something not there."

I was baffled by her words. With all the wealth our parents left behind, I was slowly beginning to think we should focus less on fighting the tyranny of The Supremacist and start looking at what exactly went through girl's heads when it came to love. "What d'you mean? What's wrong with them?" I asked as we rounded the corner to the Dining Room.  
Lily sighed, stopping just in front of the door. "They're not Howard." I was about to respond but she cut me off. "Can we please just drop it, Blake? Please?"

Something in her eyes convinced me to accept her wishes. The sadness in her eyes told me that she didn't want to, no, that she could talk about it any longer, so I let it drop. If there was one thing I had figured out by now, it was that Aphrodite was cruel, and Lily was proof. "Yeah, sure, let's just go eat." I said, opening the Dining Room door.

It was as loud in there as ever. Apparently Lily and I were late, because everyone was already seated at one of the three tables. I told Lily good-bye and went to my usual table, taking a seat between my best friend Wyatt and Katrina, my girlfriend. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?" I grabbed a roll from a basket and broke it apart.

"Nothing much, man, we just got here. Trent's been telling the same joke over and over the entire day, so if he asks, no, neither children of Mars or Ares do not have souls." Wyatt said, rolling his eyes. "Give that guy a good joke and boy does he go overboard. Anyway, I feel like I should ask this in Kat's presence so that she doesn't suffer when the truth comes out, so is there anything going on between you and Lily, because you guys have been coming to dinner together quite a lot."

I smacked Wyatt on the back of his head. "You think I'd even be brave enough to two-time Katrina? I thought you were a rational guy."

Then came the other punch to the shoulder, the excessively hard punch that I'd come to attribute with Katrina. "I can't tell if you're insulting me or not, babe." She said 'babe' in an especially maniacal and threatening manner, the kind and insane villain would make right before bombing a million people.

"Oh, hey Kat how was your day?" I asked trying to get off the subject, but Katrina just punched me again. I cringed in pain. Katrina's punchs were on a whole other level than Lily's. It must have been that Mars blood she got from her father, because unlike my left shoulder, my right would never become bruise immune. "Oh come on, Kat, that's the arm I use to shoot thing with, if something happens to it, then who's gonna be our marksman?"

"Ohh, big loss, losing one of our half a dozen marksmen, plus we've got Gwen, who unlike you, uses a wicked awesome rifle." Wyatt said nudging me in the ribs. Katrina shrugged like she agreed with him.

"You can't be serious, I'm definitely the best marksman we have, there's no doubt about that." I responded proudly. "Besides, I could use a rifle if I wanted, but then I wouldn't get to use this quiver that was enchanted by Grandpa Apollo himself. I don't see Gwen walking around with a quiver of endless bullets."

"Touché." Wyatt turned away from me to talk to his our shared cousin Joanna, leaving me to face Katrina on my own, not that he was much help in the first place.  
As I was about to really ask Katrina about her day, she began to speak. "How were the arrows you tested today were, were they field ready?" she asked plainly.  
"The Greek fire arrows? Yeah, I guess, they made a big explosion, and they took down our scrap metal dragon without any trouble, though we should only use them when there's no one near the unfortunate monster." I explained. "What'd you do today?"  
Katrina nodded. "I didn't do much; helped Christine demonstrate some new moves to the Trainees, then did some training with Trent, nothing out of the ordinary." She told me. We spent the next hour or so chatting about whatever came to mind. Eventually Wyatt or someone else would join in on the conversation, but for the most part, it was mostly Katrina and I, and I loved it. I had feelings for the legacy of Mars and Neptune for as long as I've known her. There was just something about her that made me want to fight for a world where we could live in peace, and that's what I intended to do. After we cleared the Dining Room, Katrina and I took a walk around The Compound, which was big enough to take up another hour of our time.

The Compound was where we lived and trained. You see, before they died, my parents as well as a few others pooled together money and left it for Chiron to build a place where we would be safe from the Supremacist and where we would be able to develop our skills until we were able to take him down. The Compound consisted of several large buildings; one of which was the Mansion, where we all lived. It was one of those really gigantic fantasy mansions, the kind that royalty would live in. According to Chiron, it's a miracle of architecture that some lady named Annabeth Jackson designed; actually she designed the entire place.

The Gym is where we trained, and was also the largest building on the Compound. Inside there were several areas build to sharpen our senses and techniques, like moving targets, a lava wall, and several dangerous booby traps that we shouldn't have been allowed to train on, I mean seriously, who puts pressure spikes and flamethrowers on a teenager's playground? Even if we're stronger and faster than normal humans, we aren't immortal. I'm sure it was one of Lupa's ideas, a way to weed out the weak and make sure the rest of us are in tip top shape.

As we passed the Forges, Ralph popped his head out the window. "Hey you two, don't stay out too long, we got word that a couple enemy transports are going to be passing this way, so everyone's gotta get inside pretty soon, okay?"

"Don't worry Ralph, we don't have much further to go." The son of Hephaestus gave us a thumbs up, then pulled his head back inside. He was probably working on his multi-metal weapon project. It was something he'd become obsessed with ever since he saw Katrina's gladius, Vicis. It was one of a kind, and made from several different mystical metals, and up to now, no one has been able to remake it, or anything similar for that matter, including Ralph.

Katrina looked up at me, "I think we should just go over to the Lake and then head back, we aren't going to have time to make it all the way around today." She said pulling me along. Of course she wanted to go to the lake; whenever we walked together we always spent the most time at the lake. Katrina loved swimming and the water, obviously, but me, not so much. I mean, water's pretty and all, but it's also scary, and I'm allergic to most seafood so you can see where I'm coming from, but at least I can swim in it. Chiron told me that my dad and his brother's couldn't even go into most bodies of water, especially the sea.

The lake had its good parts too, Chiron and Lupa thought it would be a good idea to have the Compound surrounded by water since we had so many legacies of Poseidon and Neptune on the Team. It was a good strategy, but it made me a bit uncomfortable from time to time, but I still managed to hang out there, because it made Kat happy, I think it reminded her of her mother.

As we walked towards the lake, a siren came from the mansion. Katrina and I looked at each other and nodded. "There's a passage way to the underground around here, next to that tree." She said pointing at an old pine tree. We ran towards it, and Katrina put her palm on the trunk of the tree pushing a little. Suddenly the ground shook beneath us as a passage way opened. So I guess I should explain about the passage way, huh? Well, every building in the Compound is connected underground, through a series of tunnels, so if there is ever a threat on the grounds, we can move around undetected.  
We moved quickly through the dimly lit tunnel. Neither of us were fond of being underground, it felt like we didn't belong there, and we probably didn't. After a few minutes we arrived at a metal door with a number lock on it. I quickly punched in the code, 1-4-7-2 and the door opened automatically, leading us into the Mansion. We dashed up the stairs and made it to the briefing room as quickly as possible. We met Trent and Joanna at the door. "You guys know what this is about?" I asked.

"Nope, but we're about to find out." Trent answered opening the door and allowing us inside. Everybody was already present, sitting at their designated seats. Howard, who had the biggest seat on round table, gave us a stern look as we parted ways.

"Good of you guys to join us." He said, before looking back at the papers that were in front of him. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we weren't exactly in the other room." I said, and I would have said more if someone didn't stop me. Hannah Copperfield, my cousin on the paternal side placed a firm hand on my shoulder, and shook her head. I took her unspoken advice and sat back in my chair.

"Now that you're all here, I will brief you on the mission." Lupa said in a commanding voice. "We have been alerted by the presence of three different enemy transport envoys, and after closer inspection, we have deemed them a threat, and thus need them taken out." She informed us, looking up at Chiron, giving him his queue.

The centaur cleared his throat and then began. "As usual, you will be split into different teams. For the purposes of this mission, you will be split into three. Alpha squad will consist of Howard, Katrina, Wyatt, Gwen, Joanna, Hannah, and Trent." That was strange. Chiron put a marksman on Alpha squad and it wasn't me? I was always the Alpha squad marksman. They got the most dangerous mission, and therefore the best of us were chosen to run that mission. Maybe there's something special about Beta. I thought to myself, but was disappointed again. "Beta squad, will be Lily, Cameron and Layla." I raised an eyebrow. Maybe I'm going on a secret covert mission? I thought. "And Gamma squad will be made up of Blake and Scott."

I nearly choked on air. "What? Gamma squad? Since when were me or Scott ever even considered for running a Gamma mission?" I asked getting up from my chair. I was a bit annoyed to say the least; it was the stupidest thing I ever heard. I never went on the Gamma mission, I mean, I hardly got the Beta mission.

"Sit down and stop overestimating yourself, Blake." Howard said sternly from his seat. His face was passive, but his eyes betrayed him. I could see the anger in them, the restraint. I was sure he was ready to try and make me sit back down.

"Shut up, Howard, I'm not talking to you." There was a collective gasp in the room. No one talked to Howard like that, not since he became leader anyway, but before I realized what I had said, Howard was already out of his seat and coming towards me. I wouldn't have had enough time to defend myself, but luckily, Lupa wasn't in the mood to watch a fight. She jumped across the table pushing both of us back.

"Howard, take your team and get ready." The she-wolf commanded with a growl. Howard eyed me for a second, then glanced at Lupa and took off. Wyatt put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a look that clearly said, 'We're gonna talk about this after the mission'. Katrina and Lily had similar expressions, but they soon left with the rest of the legacies. Soon only me, Scott, Chiron and Lupa were left in the room.

"I apologize if I offended you two by putting you in Gamma squad." Chiron began. I glanced at my younger cousin Scott, who was also visibly upset. Neither of us was used to being left with the easy mission. I could hit any target from any distance, and I wasn't too shabby with my powers either, and Scott was awesome at mid range. "But while this Gamma mission may not be as dangerous as the others, we thought you two would be particularly interested in it."

My head tilted in curiosity, but Scott spoke before me. "What is it? What's so special about this mission that you didn't put us on Alpha squad?" he asked, which was basically what I was wondering.

"One of the envoys consists of only one truck, but it isn't meant to carry cargo. We've confirmed that one of our allies is being carried in this truck, but we don't have concrete evidence. We need you both to track down the truck and confirm who is inside it." Lupa said, though she seemed to be beating around the bush, which was strange, Lupa was the most direct she-wolf I knew.

"Who is it?" I asked curiously. "Who's the person we're looking for?" I insisted. Chiron and Lupa glanced at each other, and Lupa gave a short growl, to which Chiron nodded.  
"You are to confirm that it is this man." Chiron handed us a piece of paper with a picture of a blonde man with a five o'clock shave and sun glasses. I nearly dropped the paper when I recognized the man.

"Uncle Gary?" There was a tear in Scott's eye, and I could feel one forming in mine as well. Gary Hound was a son of Apollo from our parent's generation. He survived the longest of all his comrades. He even stayed here at the Compound for a while, but he disappeared about a year ago. We suspected he had been killed while running a dangerous mission, but there was always hope that he was just in hiding and now it was looking like a reality.

"I'm sorry." I said, to both Chiron and Lupa. "I should know by now that you always have a reason." They both accepted, so Scott and I went out the door, but before we got too far, Lupa stopped us.

"Blake, Scott, your mission is only to observe and confirm. Come back home as soon as you do that Understand?" she said menacingly. We both nodded and made our way to the weapon's room, where we began to stock up for the mission. I strapped my quiver and compound bow to my back, and attached two long hunting knives to my belt. Scott stocked himself up with an array of throwing knives and brought a sword with him just in case, and then he went rummaging for something else. "Scott, what are you looking for? We'll be late if we don't hurry."

He was silent for a second, and then he pulled a crossbow out from under a sheet. "Uncle Gary'll need this for when we break him out of the truck, don't you think?" Scott asked, grinning happily.

I couldn't help but chuckle. I was also thinking about saving our uncle, despite Lupa's warning, but it seemed Scott was a step ahead. "Of course he'll need that, crossbows are his thing." Scott strapped the ranged weapon to his waist signaled that he was ready.  
The hike to the road went by quickly with all the anticipation. If Uncle Gary was really alive, then we had to save him. The Supremacists made a big mistake putting him in the least guarded envoy, but it did make me wonder what was in the others. Uncle Gary may not have been a fighter, but he was no slouch. He could probably take each of us down if he had to, yet he was only kept in captivity by six guys on motorcycles and the driver of the truck.

Scott and I waited on a hill at the side of the road, covering ourselves with the bushes and using our light manipulation abilities to camouflage even better. It didn't take ten minutes before the first set of headlights appeared from around the curb, then the sound of several engines came roaring in our direction. As we were told. There was a truck towing a cage, and it was accompanied by six motorcyclists. Scott pulled out a pair of binoculars, and peered through the holes in the cage. He smiled a little then looked up at me. "It's him." Scott said, and I took that as my queue.

I notched an arrow onto my bow and let it sail towards the guard in front. A moment later he flew off his bike with an arrow sticking out his shoulder. The other began to slow down, which was a mistake, because it only made it easier for us, or so we thought. By the time I had picked off the second biker, they had pin pointed our location. "They must be able to read our heat signature." Scott said, adding a couple curses.

We took off in different directions. We'd trained for situations like this; we could make ourselves virtually unseen to the naked eye for short periods of time, but often times the enemy was able to find us using other methods. Heat vision goggles and sonar were common, but sometimes they had machines that could disrupt our powers, though they were rarely used. I shot an arrow at another guard, but he dodged, easily. I stopped, no way would he be able to do that, Scott and I had closed the distance significantly, now we were fighting a mid ranged battle, he shouldn't have had enough time to dodge. I grabbed another arrow and shot it, but the guard dodged it again. Something was different; this guy had been trained way better than the average supremacist soldier.  
As I reached back for another arrow, the guard charged. He was ran at me like lightning, one second he was near his bike, the next he was right on top of me. I barely had time to dodge, rolling out the way of his attack. I sized him up, he didn't look like anything special, but I could tell he had experience by the way he held his sword. His stance wasn't basic; he knew what he was doing. After a second he charged at me again, and instinctively I drew out my knives, meeting him halfway. I used one of my knives to parry his slash, redirecting it. The momentum made his lose his balance and I took the opportunity to take him out. As the guard fell I spun around, bringing my foot up to meet his face. There was a satisfying crunch, and the guard went limp on the ground. That was three down, and but I could tell things weren't going to get any easier. The other three guards stepped off their motorcycles in unison, and faced me. This time I wasn't going to take any chances and allow them to get close to me. I sheathed by knives, and pulled my bow out, notching three arrows on it. I aimed to the guard in the middle, he had blonde hair, and like the others, his eyes were covered by goggles. When they didn't make any moves, I figured they were trained to counter, to judge the situation and act accordingly, but fortunately they had forgotten one thing. Scott.

I caught a glimpse of my cousin sneaking behind the guards, creeping closer to the cage where they were keeping Uncle Gary. I had to buy him some time. If it was three of us against three of them, the tables would be turned, no way could they take on the three of us, but that would only happen if my plan worked. I still couldn't let them get too close to me; I could hold my own, but my true talents lied when there was a distance between me and my enemy.

I tilted the bow a bit, just to see how the guards would react. Other than the obvious tension in their muscles, they made little movement. Excellent, I thought, and then let the arrows fly. The blonde guard in the middle ducked, while the other two jumped to the side. Now Scott could focus less on hiding himself and more on helping Uncle Gary. I jumped back a couple steps as the blonde guard charged at me. He had a spear, which meant he had to be taken down quickly. The added range would be troublesome, but I had a plan.

I reached back, and pulled an arrow out of my quiver. The arrow had an orange tip that was semi-transparent. As I drew it back on the bow, the arrow slowly began to vanish. That stopped the guard in his tracks. You can't stop what you can't see, and he couldn't see this arrow, heat vision or not. I winked at him and released the bolt. There was a sickening piercing sound as the arrow entered blondie's chest. Then I turned to my right, to face the other guy. That was a mistake.

The second my attention was turned to the right, the guard on the left took his chance. I felt a sharp pain to the back of my neck that brought me to my knees. I cursed and tried to roll away, but they didn't let up. Their spears barely missed my head as I rolled across the ground, I barely had time to get to my feet, and when I did, I was quickly knocked back down.

There I was flat on my back, trying to think of something quick witted and insulting to say as my last words. The two guards hovered over me, like they were contemplating whether they should kill me or take me prisoner. Frankly, I hoped it was the former; I had no intentions of being held prisoner by The Supremacist, I'd rather die and join my parents and the other heroes who gave their lives for humanity.

Finally, they came to a decision. Looks like I'm dying then, I thought to myself as one of the guards raised his spear. I looked him straight in his, err, goggles and as he was about to bring the point down on me, there was a flash of light, and the guard flew backwards.

"All those months in captivity and I can still shoot like a mad man." A familiar voice said. My heart jumped as I looked back to see who it was coming from. It was a thin blonde man, a few inches taller than Scott. He had a comedic smile and his eyes were covered by a pair of shades that resembled the one the guards were wearing. "Anyway, I suggest you step away from my nephew, guard. You have no idea the kinds of things I've been waiting to unleash on you guys, and I'm sure you don't want to know." His smile told me that he was having fun, but it just made him seem all the more dangerous, especially to the guard, who dropped his spear and took off on his bike.

I sighed in relief and hauled myself up from the ground as Uncle Gary and Scott made their way over to me. "Thank you, both of you. You saved my life, and I am grateful." Our uncle said, embracing both of us. "Huh, you both grew, a lot. I mean, it's almost been a year, but yeesh, you're turning into giants. And what's with this hair Scott, you look as ginger as ever!" His laugh was refreshing, actually everything about him as refreshing, even his dirty, torn up clothes. Just having him there was one of the best feelings I've felt in a long time.

"It's good to see you, Uncle Gary, but what happened to you? How did you get captured and what were you doing?" I asked. Uncle Gary's arms were still wrapped around me and Scott as we walked into the woods.

"I'll tell you all about that later. Right now we have to get to the Compound quickly, that guy's probably already called in to his headquarters and reported the attack, back up is likely on its way by now." He said, pulling us along with him.

This time, the walk seemed slow, more enjoyable. Scott and I had done it, we save one of the last relatives we had from our parent's generation. On the way, we filled Uncle Gary in on what we he'd missed in the past year. We informed him about the untimely death of Mr. and Mrs. Rêveur, and how they too left three young children behind. Uncle Gary spat in distaste, obviously upset that more of us had died, but he was also relieved that all the children were safe.

The Compound wasn't just a home to us on the main team, who were known as Field Members, but we also had several Trainees, who practiced as a team until they turned fourteen and were allowed go on real missions, and aside from the Trainees we had the other, much younger kids. Like Romulus and Remus North, who were four years old, and the Rêveur triplets, who were three. They'll stay at the Mansion until they are old enough to undergo actual training and later graduate to being a Field Member.

"I think I'm starting to recognize these trees, are we almost there?" Uncle Gary asked. He looked a little tired, but that was expected. He'd been taken prisoner for a little less than a year, he was probably given just enough food and water to survive.

"Yeah, the Compound's just behind those trees. Of course we can't see it because of the enchantments over the borders." Scott reminded him. After a couple more minutes we crossed the barrier that was hiding the Compound from the outside world. We could see the Trainees on the balcony of the Mansion, no doubt waiting for our arrival, but there was someone else with them. As we got closer, I began to recognize who it was. "Katrina." I said grimly. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to see her, I was glad she was safe, but that meant that the rest of her team had returned, and I wasn't ready to face Howard. I'll admit I got a little carried away back in the Briefing Room, but he had it coming, someone had to tell the guy off, but I was still debating whether or not I should apologize to him.

Wyatt met us at the door, greeting Uncle Gary welcomingly, then he turned to Scott and I. "You two are in big trouble. One of Lupa's wolves followed you and reported what you were doing, Lupa's furious, and so was Howard, but Lily talked to him, and he seems to have calm down a little bit." He told us.

"They're in trouble for saving me? Are you kidding, when we were your age we were praised for helping our allies." Uncle Gary sounded surprised, but then he laughed. "But then again, it is Lupa we're talking about, and Howard's a Roman isn't he. They've always been strung up too tightly, that bunch. Don't worry, I'll talk to them, I'm a bit afraid of that she-wolf, but Chiron likes me, and I'd like to see Howard yell at me!" he said with a smile.

Uncle Gary led us to the Briefing Room, where according to Wyatt, everyone was waiting for us. "We have big news from our mission. We found about some major plans, and we've been waiting for you guys to get back so we could discuss them." He explained. As we turned the corner we met Katrina standing in front of the door.

"Finally, I've been waiting here forever." She said. She didn't sound angry, though she avoided my gaze, smiling up at Uncle Gary instead. "It's nice to see you, Mr. Hound. You look well for a man who's been held captive for a year." She said kindly.

"Thank you, Katrina, but why were you waiting for us?" Uncle Gary asked. "I mean, we all know where the Briefing Room is."

"Things are… a little tense. Howard's eager to get started, so I decided to wait out here." She said. "If you're ready, we should go in."

"Right, let's go." I said, opening the door and leading the others in. As usual, everyone was already seated. I was getting a little tired of always arriving late, and I could see that I wasn't the only one. I could feel several disappointed eyes on me, but strangely Howard's were not among them, well, he wasn't glaring at me, but he was watching as we went to our seats. Uncle Gary used one of the guest chairs, sitting next to Chiron and an annoyed Lupa.

"Right, since everyone's now here, we need to talk." Howard began. "On our mission, Alpha Team got a hold on some very important information. The transport envoy we attack was carrying certain plans, plans that could endanger us all."


	2. Chapter 2: The Confrontation

_**Disclaimer: **_All characters and ideas are developed from the world of Rick Riordan, and his fans. Characters used that are not of Rick's creation are either our own, or those of writer's by whom we have obtained permission for use.

**_Author's Note: _**This is the second chapter in the collaboration story known as the Legacy Initiative. This chapter is written from the first person perspective of Wyatt Ward.

**CHAPTER 2**

**The Confrontation**

The beach. It was perfection, immaculate, inexplicable beauty. The water was my home, and I lived and breathed water. Literally. A day at the beach, oh was that a dream. Volleyball, catching some waves, drinking some Coke as I worked on my tan. Yeah, that was the perfect day for me. And there was one other thing that always got me running to the beach.

_The girls._

Layla Lobo and Hannah Copperfield. Those girls sure as Hades know how to pull off a nice two-piece bikini. No doubt about that, not in a million years. And I knew that Scott wouldn't disagree at all. Hannah had caught his attention quite a bit lately, not that the shy bugger would actually say anything. She even seemed a bit interested in him. Poor kid, got beautiful girl like that standing right in front of him, won't even make the move. See me, I don't really _need_ to make the move. Layla and I, we got a thing. Not official or anything, but we've been at the "more than friends" level for quite some time. I guess, neither of us were ready to make the actual commitment yet, with all the missions going on. That didn't seem to hinder Blake's hormones from going crazy though, because he and Katrina, my cousin, had started dating a month or so ago. Everyone else saw it coming, though I can't help but to think that if their relationship gets in the way of everything, I will kick Blake's butt if I gotta. Who knows, maybe I won't have to. Katrina seems to do a pretty good job of that already. Blake's arm looks like a permanent purple color. Katrina packs a punch.

So, admiring my surroundings, (aka, Layla in a very attention-grabbing hot pink bikini), I laid back in my beach chair, just soaking up the sun, closing my eyes. Might as well enjoy myself a bit when I wasn't training, which seemed like all we'd do recently. We hadn't gotten a good mission in quite a few weeks. Ever hear that old adage "evil never sleeps"? Well, I guess evil hadn't gotten the message, throwing itself into a nice long nap. A nap. That sounded like a really good idea actually. Just as I was about to nod off for a nice little beach snooze, Layla called my name out from a distance.

"Wyatt…Wyatt. Wake up! Wyatt. _**WAKE. UP**_!" I opened my eyes slightly to find that…I was in my room. I sighed, looking up at Layla groggily. "Wyatt, it's 11 am. Come on, get up."

"I don't wanna get up!" I groaned, flipping my body over, burying my face deep into my pillow.

"I don't care what you want, _loco_. Get up." She used the word _loco_ in an endearing way at least. Craziness, it's a specialty of mine. "You're late for training again." This last statement was met with a similar response to the first, and Layla apparently doesn't like it when I ignore her. She abruptly ripped the covers off of my bed, revealing me to be only in my boxer shorts, which ironically, was not all that unusual. Layla had to wake me up often, and this seemed to be the routine at this point.

"Ugh…just have Trent cover for me!" I couldn't see Layla's eyes with my face still buried deep into the pillow, but I could feel the death glare burning against the back of my head.

"He _has_ been covering for you. For over an hour!" Layla exclaimed, forcefully ripping the pillow out from under my chin. I turned over to look up at her beautiful, sparkling blue eyes, a wide grin spreading across my face.

"Fine…I'll get up. Hey, just tell him I'll be there in a minute. Just gotta get dressed."

"Oh, speaking of you getting dressed, I took the liberty of choosing your clothes. They're on the dresser. Gods only know how long it'd have taken you if I didn't," Layla said, rolling her eyes as she stepped outside, taking the short walk from the room in the Mansion, down to the large training complex, the Gym. I silently thanked her for picking out my clothes, which were a folded neatly on my bedside dresser. There was a simple white t-shirt, black jeans and two different socks, one purple, and one white. I chuckled at that. Layla and I had made a bet a while back to see who could go the longest without wearing matching socks, the total so far working its way up to nineteen days in a row for the both of us. It proved to be a tough challenge for either side, with Layla's almost inability to wear things that didn't match, and my forgetfulness and lack of focus on my clothing. But the whole experience definitely was fun, and one of the many little dorky things that we demigods would come up with to keep ourselves amused in between our missions. The little things kept us from going crazy a lot of the time. Well, everyone except me of course.

I quickly threw on the attire my voluntary fashion designer laid out for me, and also slipped my blue harmonica into my back pocket. The harmonica was a handy, portable, smaller form that Ralph had created for my shining blue trident. All I had to do was think it, and the small musical instrument morphed into a 6-foot, three-pronged weapon, which I could use for slicing, dicing, and just about any other sort of –icing you can imagine.

I checked my room to make sure that it wasn't in _total_ disarray, and sharply shut the door behind me as I took off down the hall and into the yard, making a quick run out of the short trip to the Gym. I nonchalantly slipped in the back door, down the eastern hallway, and into the northern-eastern corner of the large Gym area, which was where Trent Epperson was holding lessons with some of the younger kids. I approached my cousin from behind going in for a quick kidney punch, but he was too fast for that, and I knew that I had no chance going in. He moved his right fist, blocking my playful punch, and turned around to face me.

"Wyatt, you do remember that workouts start at 9:30 on weekdays, right?" Trent had a huge grin on his face, and I knew there was no way he was annoyed by me not being on time. Trent and I often ran morning workout sessions with the Trainees together, and always covered for one another if one of us were just too lazy to get out of bed on time. It was a mutual agreement, and so far, there was no harm done.

"Thanks for covering for me Trent. I was having a good dream, you know the deal. Beach dreams, I don't like to wake up from those, if you know what I mean?" Trent nodded, giving a quick glance over to the other side of the Gym, where Blake and Lily were leaving to get in some archery practice, probably try out some new arrow designs that Ralph has been cooking up. I still couldn't tell how Trent felt about her, but there was something about her that Trent liked. No doubt, she was a pretty girl; a good girl for Trent, if he would go ahead with asking her. But I didn't blame him for keeping quiet, if he actually had feelings for her. It was way obvious that Lily was way into Howard, and that is some big time competition. But Trent, he is a good guy. Easy going. Not like pipe-up-his-butt Howard.

"No problem dude. Anytime. You want some updates on how the kids have been doing in the past hour and a half? Maybe we could split the group in two, I take half, you take the other half?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me dude. So how have our kiddos been doing on this fine morning?"

Trent smiled a bit, turning to our little group. Generally, with morning stuff, we would get different kids every day, on a rotating schedule. Sometimes that changed depending on missions, and sickness and whatever, but for the most part, we'd get 5 different sets of kids on any given week. Today we had four group members. Jacob Darrow, our cousin, Andrew Wood, who actually is more than just half god, Cindy Ward, my cousin from my dad's twin brother, Clancy, and one of the older trainees who had yet to qualify to become a field member, Joshua Masterson.

"Josh is improving incredibly. I think he may be able to pass the Trials soon, if he stays focused on his combat. Cindy is as deadly as ever with that gun, but we gotta try and get her to use a sword or something. She is good with her other powers, but she can't rely on the pistol all the time. Jacob, he is already mastering combat very quickly. He's kicked my ass twice already. If he were old enough to be a field member, he'd be a shoo in. And that leaves Andrew…the lover. Let's just say that he could use a bit more work in…just about everything. He's got the potential, definitely, but he just isn't trying. Too busy checking out his hair."

Trent's comments filled me in quite well enough that I could at least know what to look for. I contemplated his comments for a few moments before turning back to him. "Alright, how you wanna split this? I'll take Jacob and Cindy, you have Josh and Andrew?" Trent seemed to think that this option was satisfactory as he had already turned to pull Joshua and Andrew off to the side for a more private lesson. I called Jacob and Cindy over to my side, having them take a knee on the grassy turf in front of me.

"Alright you two. How about, a random weapon showdown?" Both seemed eager about this, so I pulled out my PDA, threw a bunch of data in with numbers and corresponding weapons before throwing it through a randomizer. I had them each pick a number one through ten, which would ultimately decide which weapon they would use. Many of the trainees loved this exercise, as it gave them a chance to prove themselves more versatile to the field members such as myself, a way to earn some kudos for when they would be old enough to face the Trials. Once they face the Trials and pass, then they also have to be approved by a majority of the current field members, and then they can become full field members. Because neither Jacob nor Cindy was 14 yet, they did not yet qualify for the trials, so now was the perfect time to build up a reputation with an experienced member. Jacob chose the number seven, with Cindy choosing the number three.

"Seven," I said walking over to the weapons rack. "That means you get to use a _gladius_ Jacob. Nothing special, but reliable." I tossed the _gladius_ to Jacob, who caught it on the fly, preparing himself for his duel with Cindy with a few practice swings. "Three, Ms. Cindy, means you will need to make do with this _pugio_ and shield." She sulked at that, but took the weapons anyway.

"Okay, both of you ready? Here are the rules. All powers are acceptable. First to be knocked down twice loses. Good? Alright. 1…2…3…Fight!" The pair both stood there, bouncing back and forth for a few moments, analyzing the others motions, emotions, any factor they could decipher. I was impressed that neither of them attacked rashly, both keeping a rather cool head in the beginning of the fight. Cindy decided to make the first move, getting bored with her analyzing, but maybe made her advance just one moment too soon. She charged forward, needing to get in close to attack with the dagger, her shield lifted to block attacks from Jacob. She got in close enough to try and strike him, but overlooked the fact that he was both other and physically stronger than she was. He lowered his shoulder, bumping right against her shield, giving himself some space. He then brought his gladius down with a strong over-head swing, forcing Cindy to lift the shield to block, exposing her legs to attack. Jacob quickly took his opportunity, sweeping his leg under Cindy's, taking her feet out from underneath her, which resulted in a nice big flop as Cindy landed square on her back with a groan.

Cindy mumbled some sort of curse as she brushed herself off, causing me to raise an eyebrow, surprised that she would use such language. She chuckled a little, pacing back and forth as she analyzed Jacob's style once again. This time, she paid more careful attention to detail, and was not so quick to rush forward, waiting for Jacob to slowly advance on her. He made a few simple pokes just to get things moving, and Cindy instinctively blocked them with ease. She pushed him back, slowly moving the fight as she pleased, inching the duel closer and closer to the brick wall on the eastern side of the training area. I watched in amazement as the two young legacies made their moves, and Jacob took a powerful swing at Cindy, looking for the same result as before, but this time, Cindy was not so easy to trick. She quickly blocked the sword, and ducked low, driving the shield directly into Jacob's chest and launching them both into the wall, with Jacob taking the brunt of the impact. The brick crumbled slightly, and Cindy backed away as Jacob staggered and fell.

I was shocked at the fact that Cindy had bested Jacob even once, with their size and skill difference, Jacob should've made quick work of her. But she used her shield as an advantage, and it was tied at one point a piece. Jacob slowly rose, anger reddening his face, and a small red tint filling his eyes. I quickly rushed forward in between the two children. I had heard stories of the way that Jacob's father would become when his eyes turned red, and there was no way I was letting something like that happen here. I stepped closer to the enraged Jacob who glared over at Cindy, who unsurprisingly looked a bit frightened by Jacob's reaction. Trent having noticed what was going on, went and stood next to Cindy. I slowly stepped forward, calm as could be, and placed my hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"It's okay Jake. Things happen….it's no biggie. Just calm down, okay? Just calm down." Jacob didn't take kindly to me placing my hand on his shoulder and quickly slung me into the wall with much more force than a 12 year old should be able to possess. I heard a frightened shriek come out behind me, most likely coming from Cindy. I felt my face crunch as it smashed into the brick, and I quickly grabbed a hold of Jacob's arm to try and stop any further damage. I covered my bleeding nose with my free hand.

Lupa and Chiron were here, out of nowhere, calming Jacob down. They had dealt with this sort of thing before I guess, so I let them handle it. Once Jacob had cooled off, and Cindy had been calmed down, the two leaders decided it was time for everyone to go on break to get something to eat.

After some casual conversing, making fun of Blake at the table, Trent telling a few too many jokes, and eating quite a bit of food, I decided to go back to my room for a bit. "Hey Trent, I'm heading back to the room. Wanna come with?" Trent shrugged and followed me to my room where we chatted away about the incident in training for a few minutes until a knock came on the door. It was Chiron.

"You two are to report to the briefing room immediately. We have a mission for you." Chiron said. Trent and I exchanged excited glances as Chiron trotted away. We'd finally get another mission! It'd been a while since the last, and I had been itching to get outside the Compound for a little bit, and a nice mission would be just what he needed to let loose a bit.

Trent and I quickly got our stuff ready to go, and made our way to the briefing room. As we reached the door, Trent saw Joanna and started to chat with her, and I made my way into the room sitting down next to Hannah. Slowly everyone else trickled in, with Blake and Katrina showing up last. I leaned over and whispered in Hannah's ear.

"Psst. I wonder what they were doing that made them take so long." She rolled her eyes at me, but then when she saw my sly little grin, she couldn't help but let go of a little giggle. "It's a miracle! She can laugh!" And I got a quick, well-earned punch in the arm for that one.

"Good of you guys to join us." Howard said in a stern voice as the couple entered the room. Blake had some retort to that, but Hannah stopped him from saying more.

"Now that you're all here, I will brief you on the mission." Lupa said in her commanding voice. "We have been alerted by the presence of three different enemy transport envoys, and after closer inspection, we have deemed them a threat, and thus need them taken out."

Chiron then spoke up, taken control of the briefing. "As usual, you will be split into different teams. For the purposes of this mission, you will be split into three." _**I better be in Alpha.**_

"Alpha squad will consist of Howard, Katrina, Wyatt, Gwen, Joanna, Hannah, and Trent." I poked Hannah, who once again rolled her eyes and fist-bumped Trent to my right. Wait, no Blake? That was odd. Blake was almost always with me on Alpha. After Chiron continued the listing and Blake ended up in Gamma, I felt kinda bad for him. Gamma was always a softie mission. Obviously, Blake felt the same way.

"What? Gamma squad? Since when were me or Scott ever even considered for running a Gamma mission?" Blake seemed furious, and it made sense, at least to me. Howard on the other hand, disagreed.

"Sit down and stop overestimating yourself, Blake." His strict and serious expression said that he was not messing around.

"Shut up, Howard, I'm not talking to you." Howard didn't take very kindly to Blake's mouth, and lunged after him. I quickly reached for my harmonica, but there was no need. Lupa was already in between the pair, intervening and raging.

"Howard, take your team and get ready." I got up as quickly as I could and deliberately placed my hand on Blake's shoulder so that Howard could see, then gave Blake a look saying. _'We'll talk later.' _I then exited the room after Howard. Outside of the briefing room, Howard stopped the Alpha squad, passing around a manila folder with details in it.

"Okay, we take off in five. We wait for no one." With that, Howard left to prepare for the mission, leaving the remaining Alpha's to do the same.

Trent gave me an odd look, like something was on his mind, motioning for me to join him. When I reached him, he pulled me to the corner and whispered softly.

"Wyatt, I gotta bad feeling bud. There is something about this mission. It feels different. Notice how Lupa and Chiron were overly tense? I mean, Howard is always tense, but everyone else is usually more relaxed. Something tells me they are hiding something from us. I know how to hack into the Compounds network. I need to know what this is about before we take off."

I felt a bit uneasy using such a corrupt way of finding out information, but if Chiron and Lupa and Howard were hiding something, I'd want to know. I nodded. "Alright. Let's hack in."

Trent started going to work on his digitally enhanced watch, typing in codes as numbers popped up in a holographic formation. Generally demigods didn't mix well with technology, but Trent was able to work quickly enough that nothing could ever track him anyway. His demigod signatures were basically off the grid. He looked hard at the files and swore.

Puzzled, I asked, "What is it?"

"That convoy we're tracking? It's got something on there that we need to grab."

"Yeah, so? I saw that in the mission plans. Seems like a simple snatch and run."

"But it isn't. The mission details only state there to be 2 cars guiding the info convoy. But for such important info, that doesn't make sense. So I decided to track the convoy as well."

"You can do that?"

"I can do a lot more than that. The issue isn't tracking it. The issue is our info is sour. They have a 5 cars guarding it. And what seems like 2 motorcycle escorts as well. The only issue is, the guys riding those cycles."

"What about them?"

"They're human."

"You mean mortals?"

"No. Demigods."

"Shit. So this is a Supremacist envoy. Why wouldn't they tell us that?"

"I don't know, but whatever cargo is on that truck, it had better be important. If we're going up against some other demigods, this fight is going to be hell."

_**Dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha**_

The Compound's CH-53K Super Stallion transport helicopter landed in the front yard, where all other members of Alpha Squad boarded the high tech chopper.

Sonava. They were taking off without us. The chopper rose high into the air as Hannah scanned the Compound for us, but we were well into the shadows.

Trent cursed, grabbing my arm and running.

We took off running, and Ralph said something to Howard, who looked out of the co-pilot's seat right at us. He shook his head and said something back to Ralph. The chopper continued off the Compound. I glared up at him and shouted a large number of explicit words as he began to fly away.

Trent stomped on the ground.

"What do we do now?" I said, seething.

"I've got an idea, but you won't like it. Grab my hand." I gave him a look. "Just do it."

I complied and immediately felt as though my insides were turning inside out. I felt like I was on fire. Every inch of my body went numb, then tingled, then felt engulfed in flame once more. My vision blurred. I cried out in pain, but no sound came out. I heard a humming sound as I felt my body tearing itself apart, piece by piece. I blinked. I blacked out for two seconds.

I opened my eyes. I was in the chopper now, Trent was holding me steady. I opened the hatch and threw up outside the chopper. Disgusted groans came from the girls. Trent and Ralph chuckled. Howard was not amused. I grabbed Trent by his collar.

"You ever pull that again and I-I-…" I rushed back to the window and continued as I had before. "I'll…kill you."

Trent's face went slack. He looked me in the eye, unable to gain any perspective on my emotions. I cracked a smile.

"Just…warn me next time." He nodded apologetically.

Howard cleared his throat. I gave him a look. "Nice of you two to be here on time."

"Shut up Howard."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

After the little altercation between Blake and Howard in the Briefing Room, and learning that Howard, Lupa, and Chiron were keeping information from us, I was in no mood to take any sort of crap from the pipe master.

"Wyatt, watch your tone. We're on a mission."

"Howard, shut your mouth for two seconds or I'll show you the meaning of defenestration."

Hannah looked impressed by my apparent extensive vocabulary. Actually I just knew the word because of some stupid vocab game I played in high school.

"How dare you speak to me-"

"How dare he?" Trent cut him off. "How dare you Howard. Why don't you tell the rest of the group what this mission is really about."

Howard's face was stern, not giving in an inch. "I have no idea what you two are talking about."

"That's bull and you know it. Either you tell them, or we will." I stared him down, purple flashes in my eyes. I'm not usually the angry type, but when I do, I often get purple glowing eyes much like my father had. I never got the chance to reveal what Trent and I found.

Ralph cleared his throat in the pilot's seat, nodding to Howard. "Objective A is 100 meters away."

Howard nodded back to him. "Okay, the plan is-"

"Not for you to decide," I interceded. "Hannah will take care of planning. If you object, I can pin you to the wall." I drew the harmonica from my pocket and it quickly became a trident as I willed it to do so. I stood there menacingly, and Howard stared at me defiantly.

Just as we were about to come to blows, which would no doubtedly have ended up badly on my end, we were surprised by the voice of Joanna Peake.

"Howard, just appease him. We can't afford to ruin the mission, regardless of the bad blood between you two." I silently thanked my cousin, I preferred not to get the crap kicked out of me, but my pride wouldn't have allowed me to back down. I willed my trident back to its harmonica form.

Howard reluctantly nodded his head, gesturing over to Hannah. "By all means, tell us what the plan is." His tone was sarcastic, and Hannah scowled at him.

"I'll have you know, I am plenty qualified to run an Alpha mission. Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Howard." She said his name as if it were a curse. I rarely saw that sort of attitude from Hannah, but she was very prideful. That's Minerva's fault I guess.

She continued, ignoring Howard. "We'll have multiple strike teams. All converging on this point, each with a different point of entry. Trent, can you use that teleportation business right out of the chopper?"

Trent nodded. "I've been working on it while moving, this'll be a good test."

"Good. Take Gwen with you. You will enter from this forest here." She pointed to a point on the map. "Ralph, fly around for a few miles, return to this area in about 5 minutes, envoy is set to get here in 7. We'll want to set things up before we begin our assault."

"Katrina and I will approach from above. I don't have a lot of experience with air manipulation, but I know enough to create a cushion for us to ride down on."

Hannah spun and looked pointedly at me. "Wyatt, you and Jo will lead the assault on the front of the envoy, entering from the river."

_That means we get the demigod motorcyclists. I really hope Jo is ready for that._

Hannah tossed Howard a parachute. "You'll enter from the air once the conflict starts. You'll be aiming to land right in the middle Jeep. According to the plans, the files we're looking for are in there." Howard nodded, apparently approving of his duties.

_Whoopty doo for him. _

Hannah took a quick look at her watch and nodded at me. "Jump location. ETA 15 seconds."

I never liked chopper jumps, but at least we were going into the water. I opened the hatch.

"10 seconds."

I stuck my hand out for Jo to grab onto. She grabbed it and squeezed hard. Secretly Jo had a fear of heights, and only Gwen and myself knew of it. She would never live with herself if her fear cost her Alpha missions. So Gwen and I kept her secret, and went about trying to help her as best we could. I nodded at her.

"Close your eyes, I'll take care of the rest." She nodded slowly, closing her eyes.

"5…4…3…2…1..." I gave Jo's hand a slight tug and we dove out of the chopper, flying headfirst towards the raging waters below. Generally a 750 foot jump without a parachute into open water was no problem for me. But that was before I saw how narrow the river was. Maybe 300 feet across, at most. Not a lot of area for mistakes to be made, or there would be a Jo-Wyatt sundae on the riverbed. Luckily, I timed the dive perfectly and descended very quickly towards the Earth. Jo's eyes were locked shut as we hit the 200 foot mark.

"Impact in 5, Jo." She nodded her head hard. I tugged her arm again, pulling her towards me, wrapping my arms around her, giving a slight cushion between her and the water.

We hit the water hard.

As we hit the blue, I saw Jo open her eyes and give a relieved smile. We had two minutes before the Envoy would round the corner down the road. At that time, Jo and I were engage the enemy forces. But the others didn't know that these were demigods we were going up against. Well trained, professional demigods. Easily our match if the numbers were right. My eyes tightened with concern.

Jo seemed to see my concern as we reached the surface again. "Wyatt? What is it?"

"Remember what I said about Howard on the chopper? He and the others in mission control were hiding something from us. Trent and I found out that the envoy we're tracking? It's a Sup envoy." Jo couldn't hide her surprise.

"What?! Why in Hades wouldn't they tell us that. What are they trying to get at here?"

I shook my head. "I dunno. That's what I was trying to warn all of you about. There are two motorcyclists at the front of the envoy. Demigods are on those bikes."

I heard the rumble of engines in the distance.

"Speaking of the bikes. Here comes the envoy. You ready?"

"If by ready, you mean completely unprepared for this mission, I guess I am ready. I can't believe this. Howard is going to get a piece of my mind when we get back to base."

"You're telling me cuz. You're telling me."

We saw the headlights as the envoy rounded the corner. Jo nodded at me. "Wanna try number 8?" she asked. I nodded.

In the Compound, our training programs were number coded, and often as a joke we used the numbers in missions to try and keep a cool. Number 8 was a water based training program that most legacies of Poseidon faced more than once. Basically the challenge was to move a large enough amount of water to stop opposing forces in their tracks. Usually it was used in open combat, while the opponent already knew you were there, as a game changer. Here, we had the element of surprise, and it would help us get an edge on those demigods out front.

"On my count. 3…2…1…launch!" We both called upon the powers of our grandfather, Poseidon/Neptune, and launched a wall of water towards the road, and ultimately, the vehicles that were traveling it.

The wall of water, which was about 10 feet high, hit the asphalt with a _whoosh!_ The motorcyclists slammed on their brakes and turned, skidding across the water and flying from their bikes. The vehicles following them also quickly stopped, just barely reaching where the water had hit. I barked into my earpiece.

"**All forces engage! Repeat, all forces engage!**" I turned to Jo. "Let's move."

We leapt from the river, weapons drawn. My trident glowed a deep blue color, shining in the moonlight. At 6-feet, the three pronged weapon gave me great reach, but was also light enough that I could use it for close combat as well. Jo had her spear, which was about the same length of my trident, and seemed like nothing special, but it had been her Dad's and I always felt as though the thing had a few tricks up its sleeve.

Before we even hit the ground, the demigods were back on their feet, glaring at us through their charcoal colored helms. A few men climbed out behind us from their vehicles, guns drawn. _Mortals._ Not very many demigods carried firearms. There were a few exceptions, but generally the Sup's goons were very traditional.

"I'll take the mortals. Keep these crazies at bay, "I whispered, referring to the two demigods, "until I can help you out."

I wasted no time, turning and throwing my trident like a javelin, missing the three mortals by a few inches. The trident thudded into the side of the jeep, right near the gas tank. It penetrated the armored side, and gas began to flood from the vehicle. The men looked back at the car and snickered.

"You missed," one said. I only smiled.

"No. I didn't." I vaulted over them, yanking my trident from the car and took a swing at the men. They did exactly as I'd hoped, taking a step back, slipping in the gasoline. I took the chance to run back a few feet. The men quickly got to their feet, chuckling. Gasoline dripped from their uniforms.

"Running away kid? You really think some idiot like you could beat us?" They raised their guns and fired. I threw up a wall from the water in front of me, but I was too slow, not making the wall thick enough. One of the bullets made it through, clipping my right shoulder. I tried lifting my arm, and it didn't respond. That arm was useless now. The men emptied their clips into the water wall, but no others made it through.

I dropped the wall of water, clutching my shoulder.

"You're gunna lose kid. You know that, right?"

"I don't think so. And one other thing guys?" They paused. "I'm not the idiots covered in gasoline!" I turned towards the woods and winked. 3 shots fired out towards the Jeep and I turned and dove back into the river. As I hit the water, the Jeep exploded behind me, shrapnel just missing my head. I emerged from the water to the sound of three ground men shrieking in pain, shrapnel piercing their bodies in multiple places, and doused in flames. The men were burning alive, flames licking the ground and their hair. I doused them with another wave of water, killing the flames. The men were injured, very badly, but if they were tended to, they might live. _Might_.

I whirled around, looking for Jo. She was fighting like a mad woman, blocking and whirling, whirling and blocking, stabbing and keeping her two opponents at bay, just as I had asked. I ran for her location, still clutching my shoulder. Jo blocked a stab from a gladius, which looked to be of a silver color. One of the demigods was of Roman descent. Unsurprising. Many of the Sup's followers were. I held no grudges against many of them, most were just brainwashed into doing what they do, but I had to fight them nonetheless. The other demigod must've been a Greek, as his sword was a bronze color. It was curved, almost like a scimitar. I knew that sword.

Amad Telhran. Son of Apate. A not-so-very-nice goddess of deceit. Someone my parents had saved during the Second Gigantomachy. He was originally from Egypt, and when the Sup came a knocking, he joined their forces. He was a few years older than myself, he had only been a child when he was rescued.

Amad slashed at Jo, who ducked under the slash, only to meet the Roman boy's knee. She fell backward, landing hard on her head. She twitched slightly on the ground before going still. Amad stepped forward to finish off the kill. He inverted his scimitar, gripping it with both hands and raised his sword. Desperate, I threw my trident as hard as I could.

He plunged the scimitar downward towards Jo's throat, freezing at the last second. The blue missile plunged into his partner's throat. The Roman let out a muffled cry before falling to the ground, blood gushing from his neck, staining his leather jacket. The trident, still protruding from the unlucky boy's neck, stood almost straight up. Amad took a step back, ignoring Jo for a moment. Just what I wanted.

He pulled his helm off, revealing his dark skinned face. He had dark brown eyes, which twinkled at me with some sort of rage. His face was covered with a shaggy black beard, and his hair was long and unkempt. His eyes wrinkled with hatred, for me, for the world, for something. But his identifying characteristic was the long, dark scar that ran straight across his forehead. He could thank my Dad for that one, deceitful bastard.

"Ward." The man said, looking at me hatefully.

"Jackass." I responded coolly.

"I'm going to kill you. Just as I killed both your parents. You will feel the pain they felt. You will scream. You will bleed. You will pay for your father's treachery. You will pay."

This guy was nuts. And coming from me that meant a lot. Nonetheless, he knew how to get me angry.

"I'm going to gut you Amad. I'm going to kill you, slowly. Painfully. I'm going to make **you** pay for your treachery." I roared with rage, and the son of Apate only laughed.

"Good luck." He said, smirking.

I charged at him, weaponless. I didn't care. I'd tear him apart with my bare hands.

He only chuckled, raising his scimitar. "You ready to die, boy?"

He swung at my head and I tucked my head low, dodging the sword, and planting my good shoulder hard into his hip, driving him to the ground. He grunted, and we both scrambled to our feet. Circling each other, snarling. I feinted to the left, still weaponless, and rolled to the right, driving my right fight hard into his kneecap.

Amad looked enraged, screaming in pain. He swung his sword low, clipping my leg, but not badly. I cried out in a mixture of pain, rage, and a need for vengeance. I landed hard on my back. Amad took the chance, jumping on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I struggled, but he pressed harder. I raised my head hard, banging my skull into his. He grunted and I kicked his sword away.

A hard elbow clipped my jaw. I groaned. Amad reached into his boot, drawing a knife. It was short, maybe 8 inches at most. It glinted as he pressed it to my throat. I struggled but he pressed harder, and it started to draw blood. My leg and shoulder were still gushing. I could feel myself getting weaker. The throat wound was slowly getting deeper as Amad pressed harder and harder. My vision blurred. My voice was faint.

"I'm going to kill you Amad. Like it or not. You will die by my hand."

He smiled his deceiving smile. "Ward. It's all going to burn."

He lifted his arms, ready to drive the dagger into my heart. My arms wouldn't move. I had lost too much blood already. This was it? Wow. I had been expecting to at least go out in a cool way, getting bested in equal battle, or going down with a battleship or facing 20 guys or something. This was quite the disappointment. I looked up at my soon to be murderer.

A combat boot came from my left, kicking Amad square in the head. There was a crunching sound as foot met skull. He slipped off of me, unconscious.

I closed my eyes, barely able to keep them open. I heard voices. I opened my eyes again, slowly, to find the entire team hovering over me. I was back in the chopper. Katrina was closest to me, and Gwen was tending to my shoulder.

"How you doing Y?" She asked me, endearing for once. Katrina was so menacing sometimes, even as my cousin she scared the crap out of me.

"Doing good, I think. How'd the rest of the mission go Kitty?" She punched my good shoulder, not too hard, but enough to make a point.

"Don't call me that. But it went well; Howard recovered quite a bit of info. Trent and Gwen did well with the coverage from the woods. That teleporting does wonders for positioning." Trent grinned.

Gwen whispered in my ear. "Does a number on your stomach though, huh?" I smiled, struggling to keep my eyes open.

"What about you and Banana? Was that you that put a dent in Amad's forehead?" I asked. Hannah scowled at me for using that name, but then smiled.

"Well….yes. And I kinda crushed an entire Jeep. Hannah couldn't stop us fast enough, so I landed pretty hard, and we almost flattened the entire thing. Hannah actually smiled in battle."

I gasped dramatically, regretting it immediately. I coughed hard, a bit of blood filling my mouth.

"What…about Jo? Is…is she okay?" I said in between hacks.

"She's fine. She's cleaning your trident as we speak. You saved her life Y." _Her life would've never been in danger had Howard told us the whole truth, _I thought. I filled with rage, I could feel my eyes glowing, and Katrina eyed me. I pushed the anger down quickly, hiding it with a smile.

"**5 minutes till we reach the Compound." **Ralph said over the intercom. _Good._

A few minutes later, we landed on the front lawn of the Compound and I hobbled out of the chopper. I turned to Trent.

"What happened to Amad?"

Trent sighed. "We tried to take him into custody, bring him on the chopper, but somewhere in the confusion of getting both you and Jo onboard, he escaped. I'm sorry Wyatt. We'll get him. I promise we will."

I nodded, hardly listening. I was angry. Angry at Amad. Angry at Howard. Angry at my Dad for leaving me alone. Angry at Lupa. Angry at Chiron. Angry at the Sup, at the world, at everyone. I was just angry in general. The last thing I wanted to do was attend another briefing meeting.

But I was curious of Blake's success on his Gamma mission. And Beta's too. Plus I needed to talk to Lupa and Chiron.

I hobbled through the halls of the Compound making my way to Briefing Room. Blake and Scott weren't back yet. Weird. Beta was already there, but their mission was just recon. Cam, Layla, and Lily were already kicking back, drinking Coke and laughing about their mission. At least until they saw me hobble in, bloody and battered. The mission room went quite. After a few minutes, Howard started to mouth off about how much Blake didn't listen and blah blah blah. So I blocked him out and walked over to talk to Jo. Katrina left the brief to wait for Blake, and Jo seemed a bit woozy but okay. She smiled and handed me my harmonica.

"Thank you Wyatt. For saving my life." I only smiled.

"Any time cuz. Any time."

I went outside the briefing room for a moment, to think.

A few minutes later Blake and Scott entered, accompanied by Katrina, and an older man that I recognized as Gary Hound, son of Apollo.

"You two are in big trouble. One of Lupa's wolves followed you and reported what you were doing, Lupa's furious, and so was Howard, but Lily talked to him, and he seems to have calm down a little bit." But I didn't think that would save them.

Howard seemed very angered by the entrance of Mr. Hound, which made no sense to me, but Lupa and Chiron also shared his sentiment.

"Blake. Next time when you are told to observe and report, you will. OBSERVE. AND. REPORT." With each of those final three words, Howard showed a fit of frothing anger, slamming his fists into the briefing table.

He ranted for quite a while, calling Blake irresponsible, irrational, accused him of putting everyone in danger. I chortled at that last one. _Hypocrite. _After a while I just stopped listening.

"…you need to put other's needs before your own! Selfish. How could you be so selfish?!" Howard was raving now.

"Dude. Chill." We all turned our heads, Howard included.

Gary Hound stood in the corner.

"Last time I checked, it wasn't you out there, rescuing me, so for a minute, shut up. Blake and Scott did what was right. Now, I don't care how you think you run things here, Mr. Amos. But I know that if I was running things, I would've given him the green light to rescue anyone. Mortal. Demigod. Otherwise. Now why don't you take that large pipe you're walking around with that's ridden its way so far up your ass that you can't even see reason, and take that out, because I am done hearing your ridiculous ranting."

Everyone stared, jaws wide open. Howard himself was even shocked that anyone had spoken to him that way. I even started laughing, not caring when Howard glared at me.

Gary continued. "As far as I can tell, aside from Mr. Ward's injuries over there, these three missions went extremely well. The files you found, they can be discussed later. So if you don't mind me taking over, I'm sending these kids off to get some well-deserved rest. If you have a problem with that Howard, you can take it up with my crossbow."

Howard fumed. He planned on discussing matters, regardless. Maybe he was stupid, or maybe he just really liked Mr. Hound's crossbow. "The machine in those files, and the plans. They involved one of our own." Howard looked at Cam. "The Supremacist is planning on kidnapping demigod children to draw power for himself using this machine. He wants to kidnap Cam to study him, especially. I suggest we place the Compound on high alert. Place Cam under quarantine until further notice." Cam looked outraged but Lupa gave him a stare.

Chiron nodded. "Everyone, you are dismissed. Do as Howard says. Except you Howard. And you Trent, and Wyatt. Stay here just a moment." Blake glanced at me, and I shot him yet another _We'll talk, _look. Trent rose from his chair, and I did so as well, shakily standing. The rest of the team exited, leaving Trent and I alone with the leaders.

"We have heard of what you discovered. And we warn you now, stay out of it. We have our reasons for secrecy." Chiron said it so calmly.

Trent and I looked at one another, and then I spoke.

"With all due respect, we deserve to know when you are sending us into missions that could get us killed."

"That is for us to decide." Howards remark made me want to kill him, right then and there.

"Bull!" Trent screamed at them. "You see Wyatt? You see how badly Amad could've hurt him?"

"And what about Jo?" I continued where he left off. "If I hadn't been lucky, she'd be dead."

They stood there. Apathetic. I fumed.

"We can't tell you guys some things. For your own good."

"For our own good?! What in Hades are you smoking? These are our lives that we are talking about. I am not just going to be some pawn in your chess game. If Howard is leading this team, and you guys aren't revealing us all the information we're due, then I am done."

I pushed my chair out of the way, and walked towards the door. Trent did the same. "You keep this act up, you'll have no team left." We exited the room, slamming the door behind us.

After we walked down the hall, I looked at Trent, calm once more.

"Did you plant it?"

"Of course, have you no faith in me?"

"Well, then let's have a listen, shall we?"

"Of course, my liege…" I smacked him across the back of his head, and he messed with his watch until we could hear talking. Lupa, Chiron, Howard.

"…**How could they come to know so much?"**

"**Epperson is good. He can even hack into Ralph's work now. The Sup will want expertise like that."**

"**And what about Ward? He showed resilience taking on Tehlran today. That was a nice touch to request him specifically Howard."**

"**Ward almost died though, if it hadn't been for Katrina…"**

"**At this point, all that matters is that we go through with the plan. The Supremacist knows we are loyal to him now Howard. You proved that today. Now we can move forward."**

"**Okay, what next then?"**

"**We give him what he wants."**

"**And what is that?"**

"**You will join his forces soon Howard. For now, keep on alert; make the team members think you are still one of them. And soon, we will have our way."**


	3. Chapter 3: Things Not Forgotten

_**Disclaimer:** _Set in the universe created by Rick Riordan. All characters used are either of his creation, or are OCs created by myself, my partner, or other writers by whom we have gained permission for use.

_**Author's**_** Note:** Chapter 3. A bit sappy, but gives some important history, as well as foreshadowing. Blake's perspective.

"You know; if you're so fed up with Howard, why not make a claim for yourself as leader?" Hannah asked as she ducked allowing me to whack one of our mortal assailants with my bow. "I mean, you're qualified, and you're about as good a strategist and leader as he is, and you seem to be able to handle stressful situations pretty well." She ducked again, this time rolling behind me, and bashing another mortal's head in with her shield.

I huffed at her statement, sending arrows flying towards oncoming enemies. There were more than we anticipated, we'd have to check out our lead, make sure he hadn't changed allegiances.

"Sure. Strategist and leader, but did you forget the fighting part?" I answered her carefully, keeping my eye out for incoming danger. "The only way to become leader is to either defeat the previous leader in a duel, or for the instructors to appoint a new one, and as I'm sure you've noticed, Howard's probably the best fighter we've got. Besides, Chiron and Lupa have been pretty chummy with him lately. I doubt I'll get their support."

"Uh-huh." Hannah said, knocking down another too baddies. She had a small smile on her face, like she'd just won some battle. She glanced at me, probably catching a glimpse of my confusion and smiled ever wider.

"What's so funny?" I asked, but Hannah just nodded behind me, at three enemies coming through the emergency exit. I was about to ask again, but the bad guys drew their weapons. I rolled my eyes. _Mortals_. I often wondered why the Supremacist ever bothered giving them weapons. They were no match for a demigod; hell half of them probably didn't even know they were wielding a sword. They probably thought it was one of those police batons. I drew an arrow and fired it at the guy in the middle. He jumped left, but not quick enough. My arrow imbedded itself into his left shoulder, and he hit the ground hard.

His friends then decided to charge me. _Really?_ I wasn't in the mood, not when I had just realized that Hannah had probably used one of her mental games to get me to admit something without me even realizing. I shot an arrow at the guy on my left, sprinting after it. He was ready for the arrow, and narrowly dodged it, but he wasn't ready for my foot when I drop kicked him in the side of the head. He crumpled and I turned to the other guy, who was standing there with a concerned look on his face. "What the hell? How can you take so many of us out? They said guarding this data would be easy! Screw this!" The baddy turned on his heel and ran. I felt kinda bad for him, so I decided to keep him alive, but I couldn't have him sounding any alarms. I drew an arrow with a blunt head and shot it at his head, knocking him out. He'd wake up with a bad headache, and probably a concussion, but he'd be alive.

After I was done being merciful I turned back to Hannah who seemed to have finished up her side of the roof. I knew this because she was tying up about a dozen unconscious mortals in a neat, tight, little circle. She looked up at me, "Oh, are you finished?" she said, that smile still on her lips.

"Obviously." I said, annoyed. I stepped over a couple guys I left lying on the ground to get to her. "So, you gonna tell me what you got me to admit to?"

"What? You can't figure it out?" her eyebrow rose with the question. I grunted and shrugged. "Blake, you said it yourself, Chiron and Lupa are both quite content with Howard, more than that actually. They like him a lot, and you can't deny that he's good at his job, he wouldn't let anything happen to any of us, no matter how much we don't like him."

"Yeah, almost all of us." I retorted angrily. "Or did you forget what happened? It was only six months ago."

Hannah stayed quiet for a moment. She seemed surprised, I'd caught her off guard. "Blake." She said slowly. Her voice trembled slightly. "You can't keep blaming Howard for that. It was a mistake, you know he regrets it."

"But it wasn't, Hannah!" I yelled angrily. "We both know that! Howard knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly what would happen! And now he's gone, he's dead!"

Hannah cringed slightly, and I tried to calm down. She didn't normally react like that, nor did I for that matter, but I couldn't help it, this was a touchy subject. "Blake." She paused, her stormy grey eyes locking with my gold ones. "We all miss him, but you have to move on. It's what L-" she stopped herself, unable to finish his name.

_Logan_.

Our pick up had good timing, because not long after that, the Team's helicopter sounded in the distance. As it came closer I say Ralph in the pilot seat with Trent co-piloting. His team must have finished their mission successfully too.

We boarded after making the mutual, mental decision to not take the conversation any further. "Hey guys? Mission success?" Wyatt asked as we entered the passenger booth. Lily was tending to a wound on his leg and smiled at us when we came in.

"Yeah, bro. Got the data, and got to kick some ass in the process. Perfect stress reliever." I tried to sound cheerful, nobody needed to be gloomy, really we had enough on our plates.

"Double win then." Trent smiled back from the co-pilot's seat, holding up a lunchbox thermos that was shaking slightly. "But you guys got the boring job. Look what we bagged." The legacy of Hermes and Poseidon tossed the thermos to me and I snatched it out the air.

"Trent!" Lily yelled authoritatively. "Don't throw it around like that! What if it opened accidentally?"

"Then we'd be in some serious shit, wouldn't we?" Wyatt winced as Lily showed him what she thought of his joke by tightening the bandage on his thigh. "Gods, Lily! I use that leg to walk, be careful!"

"What is it, and why is it shaking?" I asked, observing the bottle gingerly. It seemed to be part of a set for _Hercules Busts Heads_, probably one of those weird shows the gods watch on _Olympian TV_. There was something else strange about it though. I could hear something coming from inside, like a bunch of muffled fairies. "Am I the only one that hears that?"

"Nope." Hannah answered quickly, bringing her head closer to the thermos. "There's definitely something inside it. A monster of some sort?" she asked inquisitively, looking up at the others for an answer.

"Not quite, Hannah." Ralph didn't look back, keeping a vigilant eye out for anything that could threaten us from the sky. "You're looking at the _Thermos of the Winds_. Why anyone decided to put the winds in a thermos is unknown to me, but it's quite ingenious, to create something that could hold such powerful properties. Definitely my father's work."

"Oh interesting. Why exactly do we need it? We've got Cam don't we?" Hannah asked, this time somewhat skeptically. Wyatt immediately huffed, and Trent made a sour face. It was now somewhat obvious what our answer was going to be.

"Another one of Howard's secrets. Apparently we're just supposed to 'complete our mission like you are order to. Questions come later.' Like we're some kinda personal pick-up and delivery service at his convenience." Wyatt's brow furrowed.

Lily sighed next to him. "You guys don't need to be like that. Howard has his reasons for keeping things secret. Trust him." My eyes flicked up at her, she had a sort of pleading look in her face, but you could tell that she believe what she said. Lily was a smart girl, she didn't just put her trust in anyone, but I was afraid her emotions were clouding her judgment. And I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Oh come on Lily, even you have to admit, Howard's being really suspicious. Besides, it's hard to trust him after his last screw up. I don't know how that didn't turn you off from him for good." Wyatt stated plainly, trying to control his obvious anger, but Lily remained silent. She looked up at him for a second, eye to eye, then wiped a tear from her eye and got up.

"Hey Trent, switch seats with me?" she asked meekly, "I think I need to clock more hours in the co-pilot seat." Hannah flashed Wyatt an angry look. I was thinking the same thing, but at least I kept my mouth shut.

Trent complied as expected, removing himself from his seat, allowing Lily to take his place. Before he joined us he looked back at Lily longingly, and then gave Wyatt a similar look to Hannah's.

Wyatt sighed, flipping his blue harmonica between his fingers. "Look, I'm sorry, Lily. It's just-" he sighed again, resting his head back against the seat. "I just can't forgive him as easy as you did."

Lily didn't look back, but her voice came to us faintly. "I know."

The rest of the ride home was silent, well to everyone except me and Hannah, who had to deal with the muffled chirps coming from the thermos, and to be honest, they were really annoying. "Hey, neither of you can fly, right? Let us out and we'll do it for you!" "Don't you wanna be cool like your daddies?" "C'mon, let us out!" "Please?" "Okay, no?" "Just think of what we could do if we joined forces!"

I was about a couple seconds away from chucking the thing out the helicopter when we passed through the Compound's invisible border. Even in the late night, you could tell that we were on high alert. Ever since we analyzed all the data we recovered from the Supremacist envoys, along with the info Uncle Gary provided us with, security was a main issue.

Now instead of just relying on the security systems set up around the grounds, we were running patrols. Even though I couldn't see her, I knew Gwen was waiting in a tree, her rifle trained on us. If an enemy managed to hide themselves on board, she'd take care of them the second they showed their face. Some wolves were running a perimeter around the compound, keeping to the shadows. They were led by one much large wolf, Lupa. Even she had begun to pitch in. As we approached the helipad, a few dark figures appeared near us. Layla, Joanna, and Katrina flanked us on three of the five pegasi we had on at the Compound. And if that wasn't enough for security, Howard and Uncle Gary were waiting at the helipad, weapons drawn.

As I stepped out, Uncle Gary shot me a grin, and even though he was wearing his shades (which was weird, considering it was night) I could tell he sent a wink as well, then he nodded up at Howard, who wore an uncomfortable look on his face. I couldn't help but feel amused at his discomfort, especially since he tried to hide it as we got closer.

"Hey Howard, what's with the weird look?" Ralph asked somewhat cheerfully as he handed him the data Hannah and I collected as well as the thermos (thank the gods).

Howard decided not to answer, and quickly thanked us for our hard work and turned back towards the Mansion, leaving us all looking at Uncle Gary. "What? I was just asking how he was doing with the ladies. You'd think he'd be more popular, man with his power." Everyone cracked up; even Lily couldn't help but giggle a little.

"He's been doing that all day." Katrina said as her pegasus landed right next to us. I helped her off the palomino winged horse. "Thanks." She smiled. "You don't look banged up at all, I thought it was an Alpha mission?" she teased.

"Maybe I'm just that good." I said cockily, though the joke was short lived on account of Wyatt's big mouth.

"Please, bro. We all know Hannah probably took ninety percent of the enemies while you just shot your little pewpew arrows around the place."

"Oh yeah? As I recall, you couldn't even dodge the stones I shot at you with my slingshot ten years ago. Wanna test out the little, flimsy arrows? The Greek fire ones?" I challenged playfully as we all walked back to the Mansion.

"I was a clumsy kid, you know that." Wyatt retorted. "But yeah, let's play some high stakes dodge ball sometime."

I was about to answer when something caught my eye. Up on the third floor of the Mansion, I spotted Cam, looking out the window. It looked like he was sulking, and I didn't blame him. Cam was on complete lockdown. He wasn't able to leave the Compound, for missions or anything, and when we had training, the poor guy had to use the tunnels. His Zeus genes must've been going crazy.

Katrina apparently saw what I was looking at and squeezed my hand, gaining my attention. "I think he's pretty bummed. Maybe you should go and talk to him?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I doubt he's taking his 'protection' very well." I agreed. "I need his help anyway."

"Good. He'll appreciate it. And when you're done," she said, quickly giving me a kiss. "Come by my room, yeah?" she suggested again. Though this time it was a lot more playful.

"I don't think I can refuse that offer."

"I don't think you can either." Wyatt said, grinning deviously and earning himself a smack in the back of the head from Layla, though her expression wasn't much different.

We all parted ways, most to dinner. Hannah and Lily went to the conference room, volunteering themselves to the debriefing.

I wasn't very hungry, so I decided to visit Cam, but first I made my way to Room 137, which represented the day and month I was born. The door was labeled "Blake's Super Secret Special Room". That's what the younger kids called it, and it was true, but we older kids normally just called it my arrow room.

I entered the room, immediately feeling right at home. On each side of the room there was a different station. Above three of the four workstations, were shelves where I kept different parts of my arrows. One side for the shafts, one for the heads and one for the tails. They were all made of several different materials, and had different weights, shapes and sizes, and could have as many different effects, depending on how I decided to use them together. I decided on which combinations I would use before each mission.

The first three workstations were exactly how I left them in the morning, the fourth however, wasn't. That was the station that I used for work on my bows, and finishing touches on the arrows, and it was currently occupied by a petite figure with red hair. "Cindy! How do you keep getting in here?" I wasn't sure if I was amused or not, but I was genuinely curious. I was the only one who had the code to get into this room.

"I can't tell you that your password is obvious, else you'll change it." She said quickly slapping herself in the face. "Okay, forget I said that! Pretend I said I walked through the wall, okay, B?"

I couldn't help but smile at my younger cousin. Her speech was getting better. She used to have such a slurred tone it was kinda difficult to understand her at times. She was definitely working on it. "Yeah, sure, C. What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be like, training or studying or something?"

"I am training!" her answer came almost immediately. "Well, at least, that's what I'm here for. Or did you forget that you said teach me about putting charms and curses on arrows?"

"Oh. Umm, course not. I just came here to get the arrows. I knew I'd find you here." I went over to a stack of arrows that I'd piled earlier. They were almost ready for battle, they just needed a few magical adjustments. Before she died, my mother, who was a daughter of Apollo taught me a few charms and curses, I used those, along with some light manipulation that Uncle Gary taught me and some help from Cam to make my arrows all the more deadly.

"Uh-huh." Cindy grinned. She was still missing a couple teeth in the back, though you could only tell when she put on a big smile. "So are we working in here?"

"Nope. We're going to visit Cam. I think he's lonely." I explained, leading Cindy through the door. I glanced back and saw the worried look on her face. "Everything okay, C? You don't have a problem with Cam, do you?"

"No!" she was quick to defend herself again. "It's just, he's mad, and when Cameron is mad, weird things happen. Kinda like when Jake gets mad, 'cept he's not as violent. I dunno." I couldn't blame her. She had a reason to be afraid. Cam was different even from us, and that's saying a lot.

Even though we were half-bloods, we were different from our parents. We were all the offspring of two demigods, second generations. Most of our powers weren't as powerful as our parents. Like, my dad could pretty much control the weather, torrential rains and powerful lightning storms, but the most I could do was make a fog, which worked well considering my fighting style and light manipulation but still, it would've been nice if I could call up some lighting without a Zeus Bolt.

Thing was, Cam was the exception. Not only was he as powerful as a first generation demigod, but he had powers from other gods as well. He could manipulate water better than the Poseidon legacies, and had mastery over weapons like Ares kids. I wasn't sure on the details, I don't think anyone was, but he was special.

"It's okay, Cindy. Nothing's gonna happen, of everyone here; Cam shouldn't be the person who scares you the most." I tried to console the younger girl. She smiled up at me and nodded, quickening her step to match mine. As we walked to the residential area of the Mansion, she told me how she cursed the North twins to only speak in rhymes, and how Katrina scolded her for using her powers on the kids, and not someone her own age, which prompted Cindy to do it again on Derek Osborne.

"He got kinda mad, and I think his axe was about to come out, but then Howard walked past, and he got angrier, but for another reason." She finished her story as we got to Cam's bedroom door. I rapped knuckles on the oak door a couple of times, and when there was no answer, Cindy echoed it, and also doubled the amount of locks. I glared at her. "What? I'm tired of holding all these arrows, and I wanna learn!"

After a couple more seconds, the door finally opened, exposing a very gloomy looking Cameron Smith. "Hey guys." He said stepping aside. He glanced at our shoulder, and raised a quick eyebrow. "Arrow mods?"

"Yup. Cindy also wants a bit of a lesson, so I figured two birds-one stone." I said entering his room. It was almost identical to mine, and every other person who lived here's room, except for the decorations. On the walls were a couple posters of cars and celebrities, either of which he could've gotten from Wyatt. His dresser held a couple framed photos, mostly of the past. One of his parents before they died, one of us as little kids in my parents' old New York pent house. All before the Supremacist took over.

"Three birds actually. Didn't you say Katrina sent you to talk to him about being so gloomy?" Cindy chimed in. I shot her another glare for having such a big mouth.

"Tch. Like I don't have a reason to be gloomy. Trapped in here, I can take care of myself, obviously. Let the Sup send his men, I'll fight them off, like I always do." Cam said angrily.

I raised my eyebrow at my younger cousin. Anger wasn't a common emotion on him, and it didn't suit his kind heart well. "C'mon Cam. I know it sucks, but you are in danger. The Supremacist is looking for you, that means every time you go out, they'll be trying to capture you. We have to figure out a plan." I said, trying to sound diplomatic, which was strange. Since when did I start defending Howard's decisions? "Anyway, help us out? I wanna show Cindy firsthand how this stuff works."

Cam huffed. "Yeah, let's do it." He took the quiver Cindy was holding and guided us to his bed. "We can do it here. The usual, right?"

"Yeah."

As we were about to start, Cindy interjected. "Wait, what's the usual?"

I smiled. "Oh you know. Invisible arrows, explosives, ice blasts, sonic booms, and my trademark, the Zeus bolt."

"Cool." She said, turning back to the arrows that Cam and I had laid out on the bed. "So I'll watch you then? Since I can't do magic, like Cam."

"That's right, C. Watch carefully."

Cam and I got started on the arrows. It was pretty meticulous work; well at least it was for me. Having to implement my light manipulation and then send a prayer up to my grandfather so that they'd work the way I wanted. I got Cindy to help too, though her skills were a bit lacking, she managed complete three arrows before tiring herself out. We were almost done by the time I noticed she'd fallen asleep.

I caught Cam smiling at her sweetly. "You know she's a little young for you, man." I teased.

He rolled his eyes, but kept his smile. "She's still so innocent, and peaceful. She knows what she's getting into, but she doesn't seem to mind. I can't remember the last time I slept so well."

I got up, making my way to the window, trying to see if I could spot our patrol units. "That's because she hasn't been in the field yet. She still doesn't fully understand the danger we're in. That's why, I just want to end this, so that she and the other kids can always sleep peacefully."

I heard Cam chuckle, and I saw his expression through the reflection in the window. His kind smile, a mix of both his parents'. "You're as noble as ever, Blake." He said, causing me to smile a bit. "You'd make a good leader, but with Howard here, you might not ever get that chance." I wanted to tell him that I'd have that conversation enough that day, but what he said next startled me. "You ever think about leaving?"

"What?" I questioned, spinning around to face him. "Leaving the Team? No, never!" What kind of question was that? What would I want to leave the Compound.

"Not by yourself, of course, I'd go with you. But, it's hard to say, but with everything that's happened in the last year, it feels like things are about to fall apart."

"Maybe you should talk to Chiron and Lupa, if you really do _feel _that." Cameron also had powers with prophecy, even though he had nothing to do with Apollo. His powers however, didn't work like mind. While I got visions and dreams, Cam _felt_ things. It's kinda hard to explain, since I'm not the one who feels it, but he can tell when there's a change coming. I remember he cried for a week right before his dad died, same with his mom.

"I would, but you know what?" He eyed me carefully. I knew he'd be watching for my reaction. "It isn't a bad feeling."

Before I could say anything, Cindy woke up. "What's not a bad feeling?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing, C. We're done though." I told her, collecting my arrows from Cam's bed.

"Yeah, good job on your arrows, Cindy. The Supremacist's soldiers'll never see what hit 'em, literally." Cam smiled warmly at her. She grinned back, jumping off the bed.

"Good night, Cameron." She said making as she opened the door. "And thank you."

"Night, man. I'll see what I can do about getting you out in the open, so no more being angry. And no more being cryptic either." I told my cousin, following Cindy out. He nodded and bade us good bye.

After we made it down the hall, Cindy said good bye to me as well, and left for her room.

I didn't do much the rest of that night, actually, I didn't have the energy to do much. After the mission and the arrow modifications, I was beat, so I headed back to my room. I could hear voices coming from Wyatt's room, but I ignored them. As much as I wanted to hang out with my best friend, I was too tired.

Within seconds of hitting the pillow, I was asleep. I was hoping that would be a good thing, but the Fates had other ideas, very bad ideas.

"_Wyatt!" I yelled, as he was flung through the already damaged wall. He wasn't getting back up anytime soon. I saw Lily already going to his aid so I focused my attention back on the fight. Cam and Logan were keeping the thing at bay, but they weren't going to hold out much longer. I shot a barrage of arrows at the target but, it had no effect. Half my quiver was already sticking out of the back of his armor, all it did was make him more angry._

"_Everyone fall back! We need to regroup!" Howard called, half dragging an injured Katrina out the door._

"_Dammit! I'll cover! Logan, Cam, MOVE!" I sent some more arrows at our opponent. This time though, they exploded on contact, providing a smoke screen for the other to escape._

_The enemy roared, and I made my way out the building, sprinting towards the exit. "There is no escape! I will kill you, as the Master ordered!" he yelled. His voice sent razor chills down my spine. Just what the hell was he?_

_Then he charged, like a frickin rhino, armor and all. I shot more arrows, trying to get him to steer away from the larger group, who were all injured and slow to get away. It worked. He veered off course, coming straight for me. "Shit." I said, trying to jump get out the way, but he was gaining speed and I was too slow._

_He hit me in mid air, ramming into a nearby wall. I could feel my ribs crack, and my vision began to fade as I fell to the ground. The big guy didn't stay long, obviously content with the job he'd done. I couldn't move, I could barely think straight, my consciousness was fading fast. "Blake!" I heard Katrina faintly. _

"_Idiot!" Howard yelled. "Logan, Cam, Hannah, let's go!"_

_I heard when their weapons crashed against his, but they wouldn't hold him back for long. He'd take most of us out already. What was Howard's plan? I tried to get up, find a way to help them. If I could get his attention, they'd be able to escape. I tried to move, I willed my muscles to pull me up. It was the greatest struggle I'd ever had to only stand up. I tried to take a step and began to fall._

_Halfway down, someone caught me. "Whoa there. Don't do anything stupid." Scott whispered, dragging me away. "I got you." He said._

"_Gods of Olympus help us! We need to escape!" Howard called. "Logan! You know what to do, protect-"_

_I blanked out before I heard the rest of the order, but even while I was unconscious, it made me uneasy._

_I woke up almost a day later. I sprung up as soon as I was awake, which was a bad idea. My ribs were already healing, but they were very sore. _

_I was in the Infirmary, at the Compound. We made it? I sighed in relief._

"_Thank gods. You're awake. I was afraid we'd have to do it without you." _

_I spun around, wincing at the pain in my ribs, to see Katrina in the seat next to my bed. "Kat?" My relief grew, she was okay, a little banged up, but alive. "Do what without me?"_

_She steeled her jaw, she stared at me, but she didn't meet my eyes. "Someone. Didn't make it."_

"_What?" I jumped out the bed, ignoring. "You don't mean someone died?" she didn't have to answer, I saw the truth in her face. _

"_Who?" she still remained silent. She was crying, so I didn't ask again. I hadn't seen her cry since her mom passed away. "Let's go." I said, taking her hand and leading her out the door. Any other day and she might have smacked me in the head, but in a time of tragedy, people took comfort when it came. _

_As we made our way down the hall, my mind worked, putting the pieces together. _

'_**You know what to do, protect-' **_

_Everyone was congregated outside. Some people nodded as we passed, others just kept staring at the center of the circle. _

_On top of a pyre was a person completely covered in a shroud baring the symbols of Ares and Poseidon. Next to it, Derek Osborne was holding a lit torch in one trembling hand, the other holding on tightly to Wyatt's shirt, tears were streaming down his face. Wyatt was the same, his hand on Derek's shoulder._

_Instinctively I went to them. Placing my hand on Derek's other shoulder. Wyatt looked over at me, but said nothing. He didn't need to, I could practically hear his thoughts. We were a trio, he, Logan and I. We would look after Derek from now on, and we would do everything to never let this happen again._

_We all stayed and watched our friend as he joined out parents in the Underworld._

_The dream shifted. This time it wasn't a memory, but a vision._

_The silhouette of the same enemy that got Logan. His bone chilling roar. He roared for a while, then looked directly at me and grinned. "Next time, I will not be so unsuccessful." He laughed. "Be prepared. I am coming, and you cannot stop me."_

I woke up just as the door burst open. Wyatt rushing in, armored with his trademark magenta boxers, his trident's blue light illuminating the room. "I told you never to lock your room door! I can't get in if you're having one of those dreams!" his voice was a mix of anger and concern.

"How did you know I was having a bad dream?"

"Dude, you were yelling. Like a lot. I'm surprised no one else woke up." He reverted the trident back into harmonica form and switched the lights on. Then he closed the door and sat next to me on the bed. "Anyway what'd you see?"

I told him about both parts of the dream. About the memory of Logan's death, and the threat from his killer.

"Wait, so this guy can get into your dreams?" he asked, his expression uncharacteristically serious.

"I don't know. It didn't feel like her was doing it, but I can't be sure." I told him. It would cause problems if our enemies could now contact us in our sleep, dreams were dangerous.

"Well if he was doing it intentionally or not, it doesn't matter." Wyatt got up. "Let that freak come. We'll be ready for him."

"Right. It won't be the same this time. Logan's death won't go unpunished." I agreed. We'd been waiting for six months, and now we knew for sure he was coming.

"Get some rest. We'll brief everyone else in the morning." Wyatt said. "And I'm leaving this unlocked."

I stayed awake for a while, afraid that more dreams might come. Eventually sleep crept up on me. Bad dreams didn't come, but the last thing I thought about before I fell back asleep scared me almost as much as the dreams. I'd forgotten about Katrina.


End file.
